I don't listen to EDM... But

Music Scene Chat
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I admit that I, european, party squatter for ten years before I quit those and my 20s, deeply rooted in the underground circa 2000, won’t listen to EDM just because. I mean, we have Berlin, Bruxelles, Bristol (why all these B’s in electronic music ?), and even other letters. We have a lot of electronic music genres (and also a lot of underground electronic music hungry producers)

Why bother with a music genre that has a capitalist state of mind ?
Why giving audience and money to insane powerchords, fluffy festivals and overmultibandcompression ?
Why letting music conceived only with “emotion/energy” in mind ?

I look at this like this is the new panem et circenses --> Bread & Games

But I’m discovering Au5 since a few days, and I could have skipped him like a lot of other producers on this game but he produced THIS (I’m also deeply rooted in the psychedelic community), and I can’t stop listening to it

It has been released by ZEE, first producers to infuse some EDM-ish sounds in my head a few years ago, but they are a big part of the psychedelic scene, and Au5 is an EDM/Dubstep producer so I’m quite surprised.

The sound design is just completely insane, and also his songwriting skills. It’s clean af and the guy seems to be pretty cool, he makes great and useful videos.

He also produced stuff that I missed with Mr.Bill

The piano chords are just out of this world, like Nils Frahm the guy knows how to make beautiful progressions with really simple chords & concepts.

So I’m glad to discover that the EDM community can be interesting in some ways. I already did listen to crossbreed tracks, equally influenced by the EDM scene and the psychedelic scene, and I really, really like the flavor it produces even if some chords and drops are really unbearable for my taste. Psykovsky did some crazy stuff some years ago, not experimental af and not too much psytrance, with lots of glitching and cool EDM parts, with great composing.

And for the first time of my life I’m actually listening to some Au5 tracks today to explore his high-level producing abilities, and I am surprised because that stuff would have made me vomiting my breakfast a few years ago. But now I realize that the force is also strong in the EDM scene, and it looks that studying a few producers here and there in this community is worth it. I learn very cool stuff to use on my own productions.

This track is also has some great stuff in it, even if it is way too much epic/heroic/chord-ish for my taste.

What are your thoughts on EDM, EDM-Dubstep, EDM-Trap, etc ?

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I think the reality is most of the big acts only make what they make to pay the bills. TBH, there was a time last year I was 50-50 thinking that we had a big name you’d definitely know running around here doing weird stuff in their spare time (I’m still like 80-20 on that). And I believe we have had some bigger, more mainstream names on here in secret in the past, before the crash. So, those guys gotta pay the bills with EDM. But once that’s done, odds are they love music production enough and have enough different influences that a good number of the top acts are going to run around doing collabs with more niche, underground artists, or release stuff under an alias. Or run a niche label that focuses on that kind of music. My point is, most of those guys don’t get to that level without passion for what they’re doing, and I find it hard to believe that all that passion goes into the mainstream EDM.

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EDM tends to be a bit shallow because really, it’s all about the booty shake.

But there’s all kinds of interesting, experimental EDM out there, like EBM, acid techno, electro, etc.

But sometimes, it’s just stupid fun to get down to something like Groove is in the Heart or Jam for the Ladies.

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I dont 100% like dubstep and EDM but I respect the technique(s)…

I’m like yea ok 20% likeness factor…but not my casual listening music…

Trap is horrible though…just recycled nothing new it’s the modern version of old stuff…its like dub meets hip hop and an 808 kick…

It’s a gimmick and therefore forgettable imo…

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I don’t believe that. It’s a matter of taste. Just like there are guitar players who actually only dream of making 80’s blues rock, there are electronic music makers who spend years honing their skills to make stadium music and actually believe it’s good.

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Yeah, well, good or not is a matter of taste, for an EDM guy I guess Woulg or pre-00s Aphex Twin or Autechre would be not good.

But yeah, EDM has its audio ninjas, like Deadmau5, au5, (wtf is that au5 thing?) and maybe other people I don’t know, mastering their craft, being passionate about their music genre and being quite useful to the electronic music community with their insights.

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Power chords? I think that’s something else, but I like your terminology. :smiley:

I would never join EDMForums or anything (it has to exist) but I’ve been guilty of listening to some complextro and neuro DnB on occasion. Most of it is boring pop mush to my ears, although I still respect musicians across the board for doing what they do and the talent they have (hell, they’re much better and more dedicated than I am, after all).

There’s good in every genre, but it’s just a little harder to find in genres like EDM where much of what has risen to the mainstream just sounds like the next pop guy. On the contrary, if you find a sound you like, you’ve got a massive library to listen to from a bunch of different artists, so it’s not always about originality 100% of the time. Listening to what you like is what matters at the end of the day.

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